Robin Guthrie hasn't released a ton of music on his own since 2021. But what he has released has been special, of course. After working on the Cocteau Twins remasters, and an earlier EP in 2024, he's back with a new one. Astoria is the companion piece to Atlas from a few months ago. And it is full of music that is capable of transporting a listener as one would expect when a member of the Cocteau Twins was involved.
Opener "A Most Remarkable Woman" opens on waves of piano-recalling guitar-lines. It's a simple but dramatic start to this EP. "Starting Fires" has an airiness that echoes "Lazy Calm" or other parts of the seminal Victorialand (1986), but the track quickly congeals around a central ascending hook. "Jura" feels as open as the desert, with the guitar ringing in the distance and expanding. Fans of Eno's Seventies collaboriations with Fripp may find something here that's familiar. Closer "Smoulder", a clear higlight here, seems a cousin to "Why Do You Love Me" from The Moon and the Melodies, though the central figure here is less diffuse and more focused.
Robin Guthrie has a delicate touch. These pieces are precisely rendered, even if they are ambient music in a sense. The four tracks on Astoria sound enough like late period Cocteaus to please any fan, and reveal a reach that is expanding for Guthrie.
Astoria by Robin Guthrie is out now. Details below.
[Photo: Violette Guthrie]